Crazy Monkeys on Game Design.

January 31, 2010http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/quick-thoughts-on-bayonetta/

(I should be writing my thesis but a man’s gotta let off steam sometimes, right?)
Bayonetta is supposed to have this perfect score combat gameplay, and it IS pretty fun, but the game doesn’t do any efforts to lead the player into the depth. I’m sure there’s audience that takes great pleasure in exploring that depth on [...]

January 30, 2010http://digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/2174-dot-dot-dot-threequal-ustwo-iphone-and-flash

Dot Dot Dot is the third from an ongoing series of 6 games, that has a “dot” as its main character. Each one of the games is made in 48 hours (a little bit like the global game jam) by the team at UsTwo. This game is a small casual game with a very simple idea and a short playing time. Your aim is to “flee” the dot from reaching the top. In order to do so, you have to every time reach the hole in the ground as fast as possible. What makes the game so interesting is nicely executed sound-design and the monochrome graphics. The game was released for iPhone (0.99 cent, Entry at Playstate.org), but you can also play it for free in your browser (in Flash, click on the 3 dots).

http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/interviews-with-yours-truly/

I’m currently helping out organizing this year’s Global Game Jam in Cologne. The first day was very exciting. But now it’s the middle of the night and I’m tired. However I have plenty of time to catch up with some to-dos. For example to share with you two interviews I had recently.
One of them was done [...]

January 29, 2010http://digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/2166-first-impressions-from-the-global-game-jam-2010-cologne

The Global Game Jam 2010 also started in Cologne. I attended the kick-off, which was more like a gentle breeze of air. The project-brainstorming and the forming of groups was absolutely accurate and on time. The games that are going to be created as part of the Global Game Jam 2010 have to stand under a certain topic: “deception”. I personally did not liked the topic that much, but nevertheless it lead to more or less robust project-results. There were also another constraint: the game had to include minimum one of the following: key, monkey or donkey. I had the impression, that monkeys clearly dominated the show. Anyway… first thumbs up for the organisation-team from the Cologne Game Lab and all participants. Let’s hope, that also the game-submissions will be in between light air and stromy winds.

January 25, 2010http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/rescued-by-apple/

Some very dramatic changes happened in the last few days. First, I finally got a new workstation. But then it’s a MacBook. So I Bootcamp’ed it and put Windows 7 on it. And then I decided to throw away most of the crap on my desk, especially my old CRT Monitor. Workspace feels very comfy now.
There [...]

January 23, 2010http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scnclr/~3/Xa8cJnI1Hgs/103-ipod-touch-pixel-works-on-twitter

I’ve been experimenting with microcommunities within the last weeks. Also with posting works from iPod directly to mail and web. I decided to continue with this. I share my works at twitter.com/scnclr.

Right at the moment, I use a bunch of different pixel-tools, that are available for iPod Touch / iPhone. Unfortunately only 32×32 is the only one, that is able to post to twitter. But maybe there will be updates on the other editors as well? Let’s wait and see.

January 19, 2010http://digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/2132-devils-tuning-fork-igf-student-winners

The student winners of the IGF 2010 student competition were announced. As you can imagine, there are high quality works among them, some have really innvative things to show.

My interest went to the game “Devils Tuning Fork“. It’s basically a game in the style of a “first person shooter”, but the interesting detail is provided by the texturing. The game is inspired by works of M.C. Escher and the echo-sounder / echo-location communication (like dolphings and bats do). You strife through blackness, until an “sound-event” is taking place. From there a lightwave is illuminating the scene. One of your tools is a “tuning fork”, that dispatches sound waves. The goal of this game was to “explore a new mode of perception through sound visualization.” Like if you were playing with your ears.

The game was made in about six months by a bigger team. The result looks cool, polished and that new visual perception really scores! They also had some kind of storyline, not too original, but also something “above the line”:

As a mysterious epidemic causes children everywhere to fall into comas, one child wakes up in an alternate reality. It is up to this child, the player, to determine the cause of the epidemic and save the other children trapped here. By way of the devil’s tuning fork, a magical instrument that allows the player to perceive sound waves, the player must find all the children and successfully escape this alternate reality, thereby waking up from the coma.

Update:
I found just another cool making-of:

January 14, 2010http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/nothing-is-ever-easy/

Work on the Intro continues. Sadly, I haven’t been able to do the final shots due to snow. The last shot was supposed to be outdoors and I really couldn’t shoot in snow as it wouldn’t fit to the other outdoor shots I had. So I returned the camera and I wait for better weather.
The camera [...]

January 13, 2010http://digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/2108-vvvvvv-platform-game

Take Metroid and old C64-games and mix them all together to an addictive and emotional blend: voila! Then you have an idea of the Flashgame: VVVVVV. The members of the spaceship-crew were lost after an accident and your mission is, to get them all together again. Addictive stuff, be sure, I warned you! They receive extrapoints for a decent sounddesign (plays well with the graphics) and the catchy tune in the backround. (via)

Edit: The longer I play, the better it gets. The music is absolutely brilliant, the levels exquisite. The story and the characters all lovely. I also sense a good amount of “Time Fcuk“, for example in the gameplay itself. Simply the best game I’ve seen so far in 2010. All thumbs better all fingers up for this tiny great game! Made by distractioware, music by Magnus Palsson.

January 10, 2010http://digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/2093-dept-from-wickedworx

I think it’s about time to put WickedWorx on the radar. This small indie-studio released the game “DEPT” for the Assemblee Competition at the TIGSource-Forum. In DEPT you play the spaceman Owen Sterling with lots of dept to pay off. So your mission is to guide this little man, in order to collect as many gold and stuff as possible. That storytelling is so lovely. WickedWorx also got some nice other items on their website, primary developing for 360XboX and PC. (via)

January 8, 2010http://digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/2085-flashpunk-2d-game-framework-for-actionscript

Yay, I got excited. The next game-programming-framework for Flash/Actionscript3 is out/updated: FlashPunk. It should serve an alternative to Flixel.

Its goal is to provide you with a fast, clean framework for prototyping and developing games; this means most of the dirty work — reliable framerate, sprite rendering/animation, player input, and collision detection (to name a few) — has been covered with a set of base classes and functions for your ease of use. This gives you more time and energy to concentrate on the design and testing of your game.

Well, this totally sounds like Flixel, so why use FlashPunk? The developer say, that FlashPunk is especially targeted at the use of bitmaps – also hundreds and thousands of bitmaps should be possible, without having any performanceissues. Hm…. I want to doubt that, but why not give it a try? There is a threat at the TIGSource-Forum, explaining the details in depth.

Another good reason to use FlashPunk might be, that some like it more in pink.. ;)

Edit: Just taken a look at the technical details. Really well designed. Thumbs up! Good work! Seems, that FlashPunk is able to fix one of the most criticized issues of Flash: drawing many objects at a reasonable speed.

And here is a demo video:

http://www.nodepond.com/blog/52-welcome-fargo

Ok. Finally I gave the second work-in-progress game a name: Fargo! Gameplay will be between boulder-dash, interactive-stuff like physics-based games or Lemmings. Hm, and also some puzzle elements of other games. We like to mix it up!

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